Departure
by FaiIsLove
Summary: I'm not so great at the whole idea of writing a fanfic, but here's my best attempt.  I basically decided that I would create a character like myself and have the group drop into my world.  Please no flames!  This is my first ever attempt at a fanfic!
1. Chapter 1

Departure

Cherry blossom petals peacefully drifted on the light breeze from the small growth surrounding the glade, casting a magical pink hue on the four travelers. Another feather had been returned to Sakura, and the bizarre group tied by fate was ready to set out again. Syaoron's face had relaxed when the Princess graciously accepted another memory, but now that talk of heading to the next world became their next move, his genuine look of determination had returned.

Mokona let out his usual whoop of excitement and anticipation as his wings flared out and wrapped around the traveling companions. As a final brief gust of wind rippled through the clearing, the comrades were unceremoniously swept away.

The four characters stepped into the new world and cautiously took in their surroundings. A narrow square pond was set out before them, and surprisingly small man-made hills flanked them on both sides. A mild snowfall had coated most of the ground and continued to gradually pile up. Flat cement slabs had been placed in the pond as a short, diagonal walkway much like a bridge connecting to the other side looking over a set of wide stairs. The grass surrounding them took on a magical frosted look and seemed to pick up every faucet of light from the pale sky with a soft flickering glaze. A building seemed to wind its way around the area and, although the land had recently been tread across judging by the numerous footprints, the grounds seemed rather hushed and empty.

After surveying the scope of this new terrain, Kurogane grunted between gritted teeth, "Just what exactly IS this place?"

Syaoran quietly spoke up with his reassuringly determined tone, "I think it's a university campus."

The group said nothing, but turned their full attention to him with expectant expressions awaiting his explanation.

"It's like a school," he continued, "but far more elite and advanced. A tuition, or payment, is required, and not everybody is admitted. It's meant for people to further their academics in more specific fields. My father attended one far before I came about."

"Wheet-woo!" came Fai's predictable response. The sweet mage was unable to whistle, but his choice in words was taken as a sufficient substitute.

"Syaoran sure knows a whole lot about education!" exclaimed Mokona in his usual beaming tone. A harsh glare from Kurogane however set him into a sulking and brooding mode and as he tucked himself back into Sakura's cloak he allowed a whiney tone to overtake his cheerful nature long enough for an evident pout.

It was then that the group noticed a bench not far to the right upon which a young woman was poised. In her hands she wielded a small black hard-cover novel. Thick, although petite, brown glasses perched precariously upon her nose framing her deep chestnut eyes, and her dark auburn hair flared outwards in unrealistic curls looping just above her shoulders. Crisp denim pants covered most of her black and silver buckled boots with a loose cut and her brown v-neck top was hidden almost entirely by a hunter green velvet coat with subtle flowers printed delicately down the shoulders that fell nearly to her knees. The collar was turned up to block out the wind and a cobalt-colored scarf kept her neck bundled up and warm. Her jewellery seemed simple enough, as she bore only a set of small silver hoped earrings and a few rings on each hand. The girl seemed unaffected by the unannounced arrival, perhaps only for no other reason than that she seemed completely immersed in her novel.

The group exchanged meaningful glances amongst themselves until finally Sakura spoke up. "It's my turn to confront someone. They're my feathers, and I can't possibly ask you all to take care of me forever!"

Shyaoron was quick to voice his strong opinion against this however with a noble comeback, "Princess, you're still far too weak to be approaching strange people. We have no idea how this country operates, and it would be less than convenient to have you hurt again."

As usual, the young boy's voice of reason managed to reach Sakura in a more meaningful way than anyone else's might have, and her protests died before they even rose from her throat. At that point, Fai spoke up.

"And naturally you should stay with her highness, Syaoron-san. Your concern for her stays evident with your expressions even when you look like you're lightening up." The sweet wise mage continued cautiously with a slight mocking tone directed towards Kurogane, "and you Big Puppy, are far too scary to talk to that poor lovely lady perched on that bench." After a slight pause and disregard of the ninja's rebellious comments about his nicknames, Fai continued his slow deduction of characters by pointing out that they were still unsure of how Mokona's presence would be viewed in this strange new world. Eventually he voiced the conclusion they had all reached with a slight acknowledging glance in her direction. "I suppose that would leave me to take the dubious honour of interviewing her."

He casually began his short jaunt to where the girl was positioned. Snow had powdered his white robes already, creating a sparkling border to outline the brim of his hood, and his clear gold hair smoothly flowed around his face, framing his pale features. The young woman didn't seem to notice his approach.


	2. Chapter 2

Although he paused with slight uncertainty, Fai eventually collected his thoughts and asked in his sweetest tone, "Just what, may I ask, is a darling young lady such as yourself doing, reading a book alone on such an abandoned campus?"

The girl started at the sudden sound and realization of being found in her rather open hiding place. After calming her thudding heart, she chanced a glance up at this awkwardly-dressed stranger. His floating blonde hair and clear blue eyes seemed to reassure her that she was not in any trouble, and she quietly murmured out an apology.

She slowly rose to collect her books and belongings by frantically stuffing them in her black messenger bag in order to move out of his way. But before she could vacate the area as she planned, the new comer's black-gloved hand clasped softly around her wrist. Normally behaviour like this might frighten her, but something in his touch and tone of voice once again assured her that he meant no harm.

"I didn't mean to frighten you miss. I'm from out of town and was actually wondering if you could tell me just where exactly I am."

If the girl hadn't been confused before, this certainly pushed her bemused state. She started her reply with a stutter, but managed to compose herself from the nasty shock of being startled out of a good book as she spoke. "This is Simon Fraser University. You're in Burnaby now. You're only about an hour's drive from North Van taking the bus routes." Almost as an after thought, she added in, "but all the good malls and shopping centers are closer to here and the sky train will take you straight to them."

"Sky train?" questioned Fai with a quizzical glance towards her. His obvious first thought had nothing to do with the raised rails and speeding electric carts that were explained to him moments later by the suddenly friendly girl, but of flying machines the travelers had come across previously in other worlds on their epic voyage.

After confusing matters such as Sky Trains and basic locations were discussed, Fai riddled her with another similar question, "You told me before that this city is called Burnaby, but what about the bigger part? The country? What is this land called?" He supported his inquiry by placing his fingers together to form a heart shape and continued, "I understand that the smaller area that we are now in is Burnaby, and North Van is the city nearly attached to here, but the big picture, just what is that called?"

The query set the girl to a small fit of giggles. When she eventually regained her natural poise, she released a great sigh. "I guess you really aren't from around here, are you? You're in Canada. That's what this country is called. Then, the subunit inside of that is the Province called British Columbia. And the smallest unit would be the city of Burnaby." Her rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes couldn't disguise her bewildered amusement at the fact that the poor lost tourist seemed to have no real idea about the world outside his own.

Fai laughed quietly at his own assumed ignorance, and after a long glance at her flushed face, he finally asked her what he should have thought to begin with. "I'm sorry miss, but I seemed to have forgotten my manners!" His bright blue eyes sparkled magically through the snow and light breeze as he dipped into a shallow bow and offered a hand before he continued, "My name, dear lady, is Fai D. Flowright. Might I inquire as to what yours might be?"

Her pink cheeks grew a brighter shade as she was not accustomed to being so properly acknowledged. Her hand somehow found its way to the kind man's outstretched palm as she again found herself stumbling upon her own words in an answer she prayed would be found appropriate, "Anne, sir. Anne Radcliffe." Despite her attempt at formality, she allowed herself to gush her own apologies out, "I'm dreadfully sorry for leaving out introductions! I was so overtaken with my novel I completely forgot my usual set of manners!"

Yet again, the magician allowed a smile to spread across his pleasant ashen face as he responded sweetly, "No worries at all! I find myself buried within the tight hard covers of books often. It is sometimes difficult to break the spells they weave across our minds. Especially," he added, "when you happen to be rudely disrupted by lanky strangers in the snow."

She felt a new flush spread across her features yet again as she frantically exclaimed, "It was honestly no trouble! I have all of Christmas break to read my pointless novels! There was a heavy snowfall on the Coquihalla highway this year, and my parents are only home for a few days of the break anyways, so I'm stuck in Burnaby for the two weeks I have off school. Besides all that, I was growing lonely." Anne chanced a glance up at this new blonde companion after her closing words as though to test the waters she was delving in to.

"Then perhaps it wasn't just coincidence that I chanced upon your world." Fai boldly stated. His eyes seemed to open in a new way at this simple sentence. It was as though he were awaiting a predetermined response.

She slowly cast her gaze upwards at the drifting snowflakes falling from the heavens before she recited what she had begun to believe early on in life. "There is no such thing as coincidence. Only inevitability."

Fai's head snapped down to direct all his attention to her now in slight shock and softly requested, "Might I again pose a question to you?" He waited until she cast her glance towards him with a mild curious nod before continuing on, "Where did you come across that philosophy?"

She seemed puzzled by all his sporadic questions riddled throughout their conversation, but she casually answered, "In middle school," she started guardedly, "I tended to have it rough. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be who I am today – for better or for worse. I guess after I figured that out, I realized it wasn't chance that had done that to me. It was fate, or maybe even God. Either way, it was something that was meant to be in my life in order to make me the way I am. Perhaps had I ducked out of that destiny, God would have placed the same occurrences upon me in different situations. Thus, we find the inevitable. In short, I guess everything happens for a reason." After a long pause, she added, "I know it's not exactly the deepest and most meaningful way to go by life, but it works for me. It makes me believe that there's some plan out there for me, you know?" It was posed as a rhetorical question, and Fai treated it as such. Between the two of them, a comfortable quiet settled in, allowing them to simply bask in each other's presence.


	3. Chapter 3

The sweet silence was broken quite intrusively as a towering dark form appeared and released a gruff and mildly frightening snarl, "Just when, foolish mage, were you planning on rejoining our hunt?!"

Anne nearly leapt clear across the campus at the startling demands, and instinctively scrambled to cower behind Fai as her pale hands found his black gloves and clutched them in her meek fists. She slowly drew her eyes up to gaze at this new stranger, and softly let her right arm slide up to get a better grip of Fai by squeezing his shoulder.

The equally startled blonde chanced a glance at the tiny frame currently embracing his arm with an extra amount of shock. Her frightened face and wide eyes fascinated him, and he couldn't help but let his other hand drop protectively across her shoulders as he turned to address the newly arrived figure.

"Why Kuro-woof, you weren't worried or concerned for my well-being, were you?!" His affectionate reference to the shadowy individual seemed to calm Anne's jumpy nerves, and she allowed herself to relax. Although she released her grasp on his shoulder, her hand remained securely clamped in his. Fai continued his casual chat with the strange man despite the protests arising regarding what the dreamy blonde had called him. "Honestly Kuro-pippy, I told you your harsh tone would startle her! Besides, I haven't been away that long…" He paused cautiously as he considered his next few lines, "Furthermore, is there even such thing as spending too much time with a pretty girl?" He ended his small spiel with a quick witty wink directed at Anne. Luckily, neither men saw her brilliant blush flood through her cheeks, as they were joined by the rest of the traveling group.

"Oh my, Fai-san! We didn't intend to interrupt!" exclaimed a girl who looked to be a few years younger than Anne. Her short light brown hair fell neatly around her shoulders framing her Lolita-style face set with emerald eyes. "Kurogane-san was getting edgy, so we decided to come and check up on you!"

By now it was Fai's turn to blush as he turned to the bulky dark figure standing before him and asked meekly, "Is that true… Kuro-tan?"

"What do you think?" he barked back angrily, "and I thought I told you not to ever call me such childish names! I'm not a dog!" However, this could hardly be considered answering the question. After his outbreak, he merely shuffled his feet as he turned to Syaoron expectantly, "So has the white manju bun felt anything yet?"

"Not that I know of," answered the serious looking boy standing to the gruff man's right, "but that also depends on if Fai-san picked up any leads." Yet again, the expectations lay upon the upbeat magician. All eyes turned to him with anticipation.

Finally Fai calmly spoke up as he declared that no suspicious activities had been described to him by Anne. As he glanced at their blank faces, he suddenly remembered that introductions were in order. He casually turned to the still frightened girl at his side and exclaimed, "Again, my dear lady, it seems my thoughts were too far elsewhere to keep my formalities in order! This serious young lad is Syaoron-kun, the girl with the sweet smile is Sakura-chan, and the scary mean man who startled us out of our splendid chat earlier is Kurogane, but he won't mind if you call him Kuro-poof or Big Puppy every once in a while." A flush fell across his cheeks as he beamed down at her.

Anne gazed awkwardly at the newly introduced characters, but stuttered out her own name and apologized for her cowering nature. At this point, she finally relinquished Fai's hand and felt a new blush spread over her face.

Syaoron gave her a quick look over and exclaimed his own apologies over the entire ordeal. After being assured by Anne that the group was only taking the dullness out of her life, she offered to show the travelers around the campus, and even the city if they wished. She again confirmed that it was no hassle, and she would actually enjoy giving the strangers a nice tour.


End file.
